Fenouil rises like a glacier against the Pearl District square, all white and glass and silver. Tiny lights in the trees add to the wintry effect. Fireplaces, wood floors, and a tin ceiling try for coziness, but the sheer size of the space—the limestone pillars, the magnificent French tapestry, and the vaulted ceiling—are decidedly American. In fact, while you’re sitting in one of the padded armchairs in the mezzanine, it hits you: this might well be the French Brasserie Adventure at Epcot.

On the plate, this revelation is alternately affirmed and blown away. Salads are forgettable, but don’t miss the French onion soup, with its buttery, caramelized onions and silky, beefy base. Frog’s legs, no longer on the menu, have seemed like a waste of a good frog. If you’re going to cook nature’s cutest amphibian, don’t deep fry it beyond recognition and serve it in a bagna cauda that’s gelatinous by the time it gets to the table.

In fact, temperature is a persistent problem at Fenouil. Due to the distance from the kitchen to many tables in the enormous space (especially upstairs), dishes often arrive cool. Yet upon sending a dish back, we’ve had it return seemingly just thrown back on the grill (thus overcooking it) re-plated. This has happened at several different visits.

Were temperature not an issue, we’d find this food mostly successful, if a little soulless, like a steady reproduction of a Matisse. Black cod has been traditionally treated well. Wood-fired duck breast has been smoky and tender. Prunes stewed in Armagnac have been well-executed and enjoyable, as have seared sea scallops with a smoked bacon-leek fondue and verjus.

The lengthy wine list would be even better if it focused all its efforts in France; as it is, few French bottles here under $100 are very exciting. And a French chef would commit hari kari before sending out desserts as average-tasting (but pretty) as these.

Word has it that the 8,500-square-foot interior was designed by KL Design group for several million dollars. It’s pretty, but you have to wonder: if they were trying for the ideal venue in which to honor French cuisine, did they get their money’s worth?

Did you?